In mid January, Simmental breeders Michael Durno (Auchorachan), Cameron Maciver (Coltfield), along with Meurig James, the head cattle classifier of Holstein UK, travelled north to Orkney on the invitation of the Orkney Discussion Society (ODS), to give a presentation at their evening meeting, and to give an on farm demonstration of cattle classifying the following morning. See here Michael Durno’s report:
From left to right: Meurig James (Head Classifier at HUK): BSCS Vice President Michael Durno. (Auchorachan Herd); and Cameron MacIver (Coltfield Simmentals), with a packed Orkney Discussion Society behind them. Picture by Orkney Photographic
In arriving in Orkney we were met by ODS vice chairman Tony Bone, who took us to visit Heatherhouse Farm, Tankerness, owned by Tom Lyth. Tom keeps 100 Luing cows, he breeds half of them pure, and half go to the Simmental to breed Sim/Luing heifers which he says, find a ready demand especially in Aberdeenshire. Tom is also a member of the Simmental Society, running the Brandwood pedigree herd, and has recently purchased two heifers from the Wolfstar herd of Alex and Ross King. He also runs two Simmental bulls, both from Wolfstar as well, including Wolfstar Nobleman, a 17,000gns purchase in Stirling. We were joined on the visit at Heatherhouse by Rob from BBC Radio Orkney, who recorded an interview for broadcast the following day.
The Discussion Society’s meeting in the evening was very well attended, with 82 people in the room and others from outlying areas, and on the smaller islands, tuning in via Zoom.
Michael Durno promoting the attributes of the Simmental breed, and engaging in a question and answer session. Picture by Orkney Photographic
Cameron and myself talked about the various attributes of the Simmental breed, and answered questions from the floor. One discussion point that came up was cow size, which is very important in Orkney, as nearly all cows will be wintered on slats, and cows can quite easily be too big for that system. There was also the alternative point that cows can also get too small to breed a fast growing quality calf.
Meurig James gave an overview of the classification system, and how it can be used by commercial farmers when buying a bull at sales. Ideally when buying a bull to breed replacements you would like to see a potential stock bull’s dam. With classification it can build a picture of the cow, with the scores for the various traits being published on the ABRI database. Meurig also outlined how the system can be utilized to help correct faults that may be present in a herd, such as feet and legs, and which are scored in the classification process. It was a very informative discussion and with considerable positive feedback on the Simmental breed expressed.
Meurig James talking about type classification and why he feels it is a management tool for breeding more profitable long living cows. Picture by Orkney Photographic
Tuesday morning saw us chauffeured by chairman of ODS James Cowe, to Oldhall Farm at Stromness, which is farmed by Dennis Isbister and his family. They run cross bred cows using various breeds of bull including Simmentals, and have also recently started keeping some pedigree Simmentals under the Isbister prefix. The two cows used for the classification demonstration, were from Auchorachan and Wolfstar. Meurig gave a practical demonstration of how a cow gets scored, looking at frame, character, conformation, feet and legs, and udders. There was considerable interest from over 40 farmers, who had to be split into two groups to get close enough to view the demonstration.
The Isbister family also had on display last year’s calf crop from their five cow herd, with five outstanding bull calves! The stock bull in the shed was an Omorga bull. Great thanks must go to Isbister family for providing the venue for this event, and also to Alison Ritch, the secretary of ODS for so efficiently organising everything.
A warm welcome and lunch with Alister Donaldson at Redland Farm.
We were then transported by the Orkney ‘font of all knowledge’, Mr John Copland, who gave us a very well guided tour along to Alister Donaldson’s farm, Redland, where we had some great Simmental, and Orkney chat, over lunch. Alister also has a team of Simmental bulls, which were bred at Springfield, Grangewood, and Omorga.
Interested breeders at the on farm classification demonstration at Dennis Isbister, Old Hall Farm.
Alister then very kindly became tour guide, as we travelled to Swannay Farm where we met with Ryan Morgan. Swanny farm was once one of the largest dairy farms in Orkney, but is now home to 200 beef suckler cows. Ryan is another who is currently adding some pedigree Simmentals, and we saw female animals that were from the Newbiemains, Annick, Auchorachan, and Ranfurly herds, and also the bull Swannay Niknak that was heading to the OBBA Show and Sale of breeding bulls on 29th January at Orkney Auction Mart ( and where he went on to sell for a Simmental centre record of 6000gns).
On farm at Dennis Isbister, Oldhall Farm, Stromness.
Alister continued our very well guided tour of the Orkney mainland, and delivered us back to the airport safely on time. A terrific trip and thank you to everyone for the warm hospitality, for showing us some terrific cattle and for the interest shown in both classifying and the Simmental breed.
The 17,000gns Wolfstar Nobleman purchased at Stirling by Tom Lyth, Heatherhouse Farm, Tankerness.
Thank you also for the meeting pictures here supplied by Orkney Photographic
